1. Technical Field
The embodiments herein generally relate to medical database systems, and, more particularly, to interactive systems and methods for storing and retrieving medical-related information for health practitioners.
2. Description of the Related Art
Techniques affecting the manner in which medical treatment is delivered to patients is constantly changing based, in part, on rapid advances in technology. For example, medical practitioners have identified the field of oncology to be changing at such a rapid pace in terms of medical and technological advances, thereby making it exceedingly difficult to sufficiently keep an oncology-based practice up do date. Another factor affecting medical practices is government scrutiny as promulgated by increased legislation and regulations. For example, the United States Congress is demanding strict adherence to nationally accepted guidelines to establish a more unified healthcare system. Furthermore, the issues of financing a medical practice that delivers chemotherapy are an ever-dynamic target that requires constant awareness of the different reimbursement protocols for the multitude of healthcare payment plans (i.e., Medicare, private insurance plans, etc.). Clearly, a technique that consolidates the relevant data necessary for a medical practitioner to deliver state-of-the-art quality medical advice and treatment in an efficient and cost-effective manner would provide an improvement to the overall delivery of medical services and the quality of care rendered by medical practitioners. Furthermore, such a technique that utilizes the current advances in information technology to foster medical data consolidation and information retrieval would undoubtedly be beneficial to allow easier use of such a technique by a medical practitioner.